BY SHARON MARTIN

I’m white,

healthy,

comfortable

with my middle-class trappings,

but today

your despair is my despair,

Child

taken at the border,

orphaned by deportation.

Refugees

from violence and hunger,

willing to chance

a thousand-mile journey, starting

with nothing.

My friend’s transgender son,

a veteran

the president wants to erase.

Black folk

and poor folk

who can’t vote

because it’s not in some rich, white dude’s

best interest.

A country ruled

by a minority

who will do whatever it takes,

including cheat,

to keep power,

and I’m all out of hope.

Selfish of me,

because my feelings

can’t compare

with your despair,

and shouldn’t.

Hopelessness can fix nothing,

but our votes can.

– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer. Her latest book, Not A Prodigal, is available through Barnes and Noble. Her recent children’s book, Froggy Bottom Blues, can be purchased in hardcover or paperback from Doodle and Peck Publishingand in paperback from Amazon.